On his inaugural trip to India as UCLA chancellor, Dr. Gene Block traveled to New Delhi and Mumbai — the heart of Bollywood — in December 2014. During the trip, Chancellor Block was joined by Vice Provost for International Studies Cindy Fan and Director of the Center for India and South Asia Akhil Gupta. Meeting with alumni, parents, supporters, together with leaders in the business, education and government sectors, the delegation explored ways for UCLA to best engage with India.

In June and July 2014, the UCLA International Institute organized a trip for Chancellor Block and Vice Provost Cindy Fan to Canberra, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo, where they met with high-level government officials and donors, celebrated newly established partnerships, and were welcomed by alumni, students, parents and supporters of UCLA in East Asia.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block traveled to Chile, Argentina and Brazil in March 2014 with Anderson School of Management Dean Judy Olian and Graduate School of Education & Information Studies Dean Marcelo Suárez-Orozco. Situated on the Pacific Rim, UCLA views itself as a nexus between South America and Asia. To that end, Chancellor Block met with alumni, leaders in business and education, foundations, and government and nongovernmental organizations to explore potential partnerships and collaborations, as well as to promote UCLA as one of the world's most attractive universities for South Americans.

One of the many international activities in which UCLA engages is scholarly collaboration with peer institutions and colleagues on issues of mutual importance. In January 2014, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Patricia A. Turner joined members of the UCLA faculty to journey to Bloemfontein, South Africa — the capital of Free State Province —to participate in the “Diversity and the Politics of Engaged Scholarship” conference hosted by the University of the Free State (UFS).

One of the four “Asian Tigers” that took the world by storm in the 1980s, Singapore conducts significant trade with the United States, with whom it has a Free Trade Agreement. (The U.S. balance of trade with Singapore was $12.9 billion in 2013, with total U.S. exports valued at $30.1 billion.) In September 2013, during a trip to present a conference paper in Singapore, UCLA Vice Provost for International Studies Cindy Fan met with alumni leaders to discuss UCLA's global strategy.

UCLA is deeply connected to East Asia through alumni and numerous university partnerships. A UCLA delegation to East Asia led by Chancellor Gene Block and Vice Provost Cindy Fan in July 2013 strengthened existing student and faculty exchange programs, celebrated alumni group activities, and forged relationships with government and business leaders in these four destinations.

The Center for Middle East Development (CMED) held its annual conference in Doha, Qatar from May 20 to May 22, 2013. The conference continued CMED's mission of addressing some of the most pressing economic challenges facing the Middle East today, focusing on the economic effect of Islamic governance, the Middle East's pivot to Asia, youth employment and entrepreneurship, and new ideas for fostering regional stability through investment.

Chancellor Block visited Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. The goal of the trip was to increase awareness of UCLA as a partner in research collaborations with Russian National Research Universities (NRUs), as a teacher of Russian language and culture, and as a leading US institutional partner of the Enhancing University Research and Entrepreneurial Capacity (EURECA) program. UCLA is also working to increase student mobility and is eager to host Russian undergraduates or graduate students for degrees or for exchange programs.